Need To Know / The Aer Dry, Kensington

Slapdash is probably the word I’d use if asked to summarise my hair efforts. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the sensation of tossing a well-coiffed head of head – I do, and I also fully appreciate how glossy and polished it makes me look. It’s just that in the grand scheme of things, I’d much rather spend getting ready time playing with make-up because I find the process of blow drying hair dull, repetitive and – I’m going to put this out there – a tad tiring.

The blow dry bar is made for people like me; unlike stylists at traditional hair salons who seem to be unstoppable in their desire to create a Barbara Walters ‘blow out’ on my head, people at blow dry bars understand what I like to look like. To wit, this is groomed and voluminous, but not leonine and – above all – not like an American TV personality.

Over to my new find: Aer Blowdry Bar in Kensington, the brainchild of beauty industry veteran Anushka Lakhani, where blow dries of all styles are churned out that faithfully adhere to my golden rule. I popped in last week before filming for Marie Claire and asked for “something that looks a bit 1960s and pinned up but also a bit less ‘done’ – you know what I mean, right?”

She did! Felicitations. The process from shampooing (with Kerastase or Unite) to leaving took half an hour and was exactly what I’d hoped for – retro, bouncy, fun. Here are pictures //